News / Eastville Park
‘Electronic and guitar music’ festival coming to Bristol park
A licence has been granted for a massive new festival in Eastville Park despite the fears of many neighbours living nearby.
Kinetics Island Festival is due to launch this September and will be organised by the same team behind Motion, the world-famous Bristol nightclub.
Details of the festival are still unclear, although one Motion boss described the plans as for “electronic music and guitar music”.
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The organisers are a separate team than those behind Love Saves the Day and Tokyo World, two other festivals also previously hosted in the park.
Councillors at a licensing sub-committee at Bristol City Council voted to grant the licence but they first heard the serious concerns of 15 people living in the area, who urged them not to give permission for the festival to go ahead.
Love Saves the Day and Tokyo World were both held at Eastville Park – photo: Martin Booth
The concerns included anti-social behaviour, loud music, and the potential for violence — particularly given the recent spate of stabbings in the city, with some linked to two gangs based in east Bristol. But the festival organisers said these issues would all be well managed.
The festival’s capacity will be limited to 15,000 people in its first year, rising gradually up to 25,000 over the next few years.
Some residents at the hearing complained that many of the festival-goers would likely be drunk or on drugs, and in previous years there have been frequent problems with fights, litter and public urination.
As well as Motion, the infrastructure of Kinetics Island will be organised by We Are the Fair, a London firm with experience of putting on festivals elsewhere in the country.
The organisers wrote to some residents living nearby about their plans, and hosted an online public meeting. But many residents complained that only a few of them had actually received the letters.
Music won’t begin until 6pm on Friday, and will finish at 10.30pm on Saturday and 10pm on Sunday. Alcohol will stop being served 15 minutes before the last music finishes.
Plans to continue onto bank holiday Mondays were also scrapped after complaints from residents.
The festival will be held this year on Saturday and Sunday, September 21 and 22. A hotline will be arranged for residents to ring with their concerns, although some claimed this was not answered when Tokyo World was put on.
Matthew Phipps, a licensing solicitor representing the festival stressed that problems with previous festivals in Eastville Park could not be linked to the Kinetics Festival.
He added that Tokyo World allowed 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds, whereas Kinetics will be 18-plus only. However, the noise limits allowed for Kinetics will be even louder than Tokyo World, with maximum levels set at 72 decibels, two higher than Tokyo World.
A condition on the licence will prevent festivals being held on bank holiday weekends.
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Main photo: Love Saves The Day
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